Photo of Dave, Colm and supporters at an earlier court appearance in Ennis (July 2016)

The court case in Ennis involving Colm Roddy and Dave Donnellan went amazingly well today!

Dave's case was first up for mention, as today was just a "mention" day and the trial was not due to take place until sometime next year. Just before the court, Dave and Colm were surprisingly arrested and presented with new charges, which increased the amount of the alleged criminal damage they were alleged to have done to €3,500. Dave who was representing himself then queried the bail conditions which had originally banned Dave and Colm from entering all of Co Clare. This was reduced to within five miles of Shannon airport at last month's sitting, and the Judge reduced this to one mile from Shannon airport today. Dave also requested that the pilots of the two US military aircraft that were at Shannon airport on the morning of their incursion into Shannon airport to search these aircraft, be called as witnesses.

Ray McGovern is a former CIA Presidential Briefer and is an expert on Russia. He worked for the CIA for twenty seven years. Dismayed with the intelligence used to support the US war with Iraq, Mr McGovern, along with others, formed Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) in the US and is a member of its steering group. He spoke at a public meeting in Dublin on Tuesday, November 1st. The following is a report on his talk by PANA member Michael Clarke. It is followed by a video recording of an interview with Ray conducted by Roger Cole (also of PANA).

The meeting was organized by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM). Mr McGovern made clear that his work as an analyst was separate from the activities of CIA personnel in the field (organizing coups, murdering, kidnapping, etc.) The meeting, which was held in a hotel in central Dublin, was reasonably well attended but, in addition and before the meeting, Mr McGovern was brought to Leinster House by Roger Cole of PANA and also met the media.

On Friday last (November 4th) a Dutch Navy submarine, the HNLMS Bruinvis, arrived in the Port of Cork. The 68m Walrus class submarine which has an armament of around 40 torpedoes made it's way through Cork harbour, right up into the city, and on Saturday was tied up at Horgan's Quay. Shannonwatch joined local peace activists who came out to peacefully demonstrate at the presence of this NATO vessel in Irish waters.

In the course of the afternoon someone allegedly threw a container of blood or red paint at the Submarine. When the Gardai arrived they were asked to arrest the Dutch NATO sailors who were armed with automatic rifles on the deck of the submarine. Needless to say they didn't do this.

John Jefferies, one of the organisers of the demo said "It seems to me people will make a fuss about a purely symbolic gesture but completely ignore the presence of a heavily armed military submarine in our neutral port and NATO crewmen carrying assault weapons in our port.

Today was a beautiful day, at least in Ireland, where no bombs were falling, and no refugees were drowning as their boats sank while they were fleeing from the wars in the Middle East and Africa. At the beautiful Glen of Aherlow in Co Tipperary, John Kerry was being awarded the Tipperary Peace Prize, for allegedly stopping wars and getting rid of Syrian chemical weapons. The truth is that it was Russian ; President Vladimir Putin who persuaded Syrian President Assad to get rid of his chemical weapons, not John Kerry or the US.

John Kerry and the US have not stopped any wars in recent times. But the US has begun wars, and is continuing to engage in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere.

We're often asked which of the planes using Shannon Airport are US military planes. The answer is that quite a lot of them are. In addition to the ones operated directly by the US Air Force, Navy and Army there are no fewer than 24 companies that have what are called "indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity" contracts to provide international airlift services to the US military.

If you see any of these planes at Shannon they could be carrying armed US soldiers or cargo. They are technically classified as "civilian" but in reality they are operating as US military planes.

Five peace group have come together to oppose the awarding of the Tipperary International Peace Prize to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday next (October 30th). Galway Alliance Against War, the Irish Anti-War Movement, the Peace and Neutrality Alliance, Shannonwatch and Veterans for Peace also intend to hold protests at Shannon Airport and at Aherlow House Hotel in Tipperary where the award ceremony will take place.

Speaking on behalf of the five organisations, Edward Horgan of Veterans for Peace posed the question: "What peace has John Kerry achieved and where?"

"The award of peace prizes should be based on truth, integrity and justification" continued Dr Horgan. "Unfortunately, this is not always the case. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded in the past to several people who were guilty of starting or being complicit in wars of aggression and human rights abuses. Henry Kissinger is a case in point. Another example is Barack Obama who was awarded his Nobel Peace Prize just before he began authorising targeted assassinations and bombings that killed thousands of innocent civilians."